My Lakbayan grade is C!

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Created by Eugene Villar.

Pig Outlook for 2009

Pig Overview
The Pig has many opportunities to shine this year. Your generous nature is apparent in all aspects of your life. It is an admired quality that people respect. This year, your inherent generosity plays a large role in areas that you may not even be aware and may pave the way to a possible career change. You have an abundance of friends and you are well loved by your family. this year will only enhance these relations. One area that may create some issues is that you seem to overextend yourself to a point where there isn’t any time left for you. This could lead to a change in priorities and could promote some better organizational skills.

Pig Rating
53% (2 favorable 9 neutral and 1 unfavorable month)

Pig Career
The Pig may feel complacency in your current job position. This could be a year that you may need a change towards something that is more suitable for your needs. You may gravitate towards something that is more of a position that provides service to others, perhaps a non-profit organization or a customer service based position. Your busy schedule will also play a part in your work. You may be forced to choose between certain activities, as there are only seven, not eight days in a week. Whatever the course may be for your career, you will fit in well with your endearing personality.

Pig Relationships
Personally, 2009 will be a year that the Pig will enjoy much happiness. Both your social and domestic life will be endearing to you, providing you with encouragement and advice. Your family and friends will be the source of many memorable occasions this year. For the unattached Pig, there will be some romantic opportunities. Be careful who you let into your circle, as you tend to give others too much credit. July is a particularly favorable month for all Pigs.

Pig Health
The Pig would do well to watch your health this year. There may be an unforeseen incident that arises sometime during the year, most likely in late April or early May. This may cause you to look at your habits relating to your health. One area in particular is your diet. This year could provide a change in your eating habits, which could help other areas of your health.

Pig Wealth
There may be times this year when you are uncertain about your financial future, but there are things in your life that take precedence over money. You will be taken care of, but there may be times of financial uncertainty. A change will come in the second half of the year that will provide greater financial comfort and allow you to live at a means that is more accustomed to your liking. Be patient, as the change will come.

More from Astrology.com
See what’s store for you this year with a free sample Year of the Ox Forecast!
Build relationships to last during the Year of the Ox. Try a free sample Year of the Ox Love Forecast.
What does 2009 hold for you? Try a free one-week Day-by-Day Forecast for a sneak peek!

2008 in Photos

(touched up using picnik.com)

Linked to: http://www.playordownload.com

Twilight’s The Meadow

Iron & Wine’s Flightless Bird, American Mouth

Pachelbel’s Canon

Neyo’s Mad

The Script’s Breakeven

Puccini’s Nessun Dorma

PCD’s Out of this Club

Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No.1, ‘Morning’

Massive Attack’s Teardrops

All American Reject’s Gives You Hell

Staind’s Tangled up in You

Tom Baxter’s Better

I just have to say that this is the one of the best articles I’ve read ever!!!!

I LOOOOOOVEEEE lists!!!!! and I LOVE countdowns….so Time’s The Top 10 Everything of 2008 is like an early Christmas wish come true.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10

My favorite lists: (See I even list lists hahahahaha)

• Top 10 Oddball News Stories
• Top 10 Movies
• Top 10 TV Series 
• Top 10 Editorial Cartoons 
• Top 10 Political Lines

Surprsingly, of the top 25 Box-office hits of the year, i only managed to watch 14.

I missed most of the animated movies, deliberately avoided some, and spent mostly on superhero/action flix

Below is a list of the top box office draws of 2008 and a short scored review.

The Dark Knight, $530.54 M
10/10 Yup! Hands down the best Movie of the year. Watched it! Loved it! Will forever be a die-hard Christian Bale fanatic.

And Heath Ledger’s performance? Perfect!

Iron Man ,$318.30 M
10/10 Robert Downey was born for the role!  Amazing scenes, a rational plot, and Robert Downey makes for a great summer movie.

Indiana Jones 4 *,$317.01 M
7/10 Fun acting from Cate Blanchett and Harrison Ford (Shia was adorable as usual), great scenes from Spielberg, but the movie asks for too much dumbness from the audience to overlook the utter impossibility of a really sucky plot and script.

Hancock,$227.95 M
2/10 This one sucks! It’s a testament to Will Smith’s box office draw that this movie made money. The action sequences were so-so, the acting was so-so, and the plot was a horrible mish-mash of brilliant ideas gone wrong.

WALL•E,$223.70 M
Didn’t get to see this

Kung Fu Panda,$215.40 M
8/10 A bit predictable but still funny and fun to watch

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,$165.65 M
Didn’t get to see this

Horton Hears A Who!,$154.53 M
Didn’t get to see this

Sex and the City,$152.64 M
8/10 A bit long but worth it  Too bad I watched it in SM where a lot of fun scenes were cut hehe

Quantum of Solace,$151.62 M
7/10 I think the grittiness and rawness that made Casino Royale so exciting and fantastic has worn-off. Left the cinema saying “that’s it?”. There was something unsatisfying in the final fight, everything was so bitin – not enough punches, not enough blood etc Plus I miss Eva Green’s Eva Green-ess. Olga Kurylenko was cute but that’s that.

Mamma Mia!,$143.70 M
Didn’t get to see this

Prince Caspian,$141.61 M
7/10 So it was long, so it was predictable, so it’s not as epic as LOTR. The movie was promoted with the tagline “Hope has a new face”…and what a cute face it offered hehehe! Yumyum! 7 points for the casting coup! (Could have been higher if not for the pretentious accent)

Twilight,$138.40 M
6/10 Plus points for some terrific cinematography but major deductions for a really barf-worthy dialog

Isabella Swan: Are you going to tell me how you stopped the van?
Edward Cullen: Yeah. Um… I had an adrenaline rush. It’s very common. You can Google it.

Rosalie Hale: Does she even like Italian?
Emmett Cullen: Her name’s Isabella.
Rosalie Hale: Get a whiff of that.
Esme Cullen: Here comes the human.

Major deductions too for a not-pretty-enough Edward

The Incredible Hulk,$134.52 M
7/10 I’ve forgotten this already….So maybe it wasn’t that bad…but not good either.

Wanted,$134.29 M
8/10 I haven’t read the novel (which is a good thing because if I had, I’d probably be ranting about how much better the novel is) but James McAvoy was amazing in this movie!!! He was heartbreaking in Atonement, and heartbreakingly cute in Wanted. Plus the movie has fantastic action sequences and great shot of Angelina’s back(side).

Get Smart,$130.31 M
Didn’t get to see this

Tropic Thunder,$110.42 M
7/10 The movie started funny but halfway through the movie, Ben Stiller’s clueless-ness and Robert Downey’s blackness got boring. But all is saved by Tom Cruise’s unbelievably believable transformation into an a$$hole producer. Please…no more sequels though

The Mummy 3,$102.18 M
5/10 The Mummy is NOT the mummy without Rachel Weisz. Plus the movie didn’t offer anything new except an unbelievably old son and young Ric

Journey to the Center of the Earth,$101.70 M
Didn’t get to see this

Step Brothers,$100.47 M
Didn’t get to see this

Eagle Eye,$100.40 M
Didn’t get to see this

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,$100.02 M
Deliberately didn’t see this. 

10,000 B.C.,$94.77 M
6/10 Overhyped..One of those movies with nothing much to offer beyond an amazing trailer

Beverly Hills Chihuahua,$92.23 M
Deliberately didn’t see this

High School Musical 3,$89.13 M
Deliberately didn’t see this

Other notable movies:
- Burn after reading 8/10
- Counterfeiters 9/10
- Pan’s labyrinth 10/10 (This is an old movie, but I just saw it now and it was brilliant so it HAS to be included)
- Hellboy 2 6/10
- Atonement 10/10
- Cloverfield 6/10
- Forbidden Kingdom 6/10
- Righteous Kill 5/10 (What a terrible, terrible waste of Robert de Niro and Al Pacino)
- The other Boleyne Girl 5/10 (Eric Bana Natalie Portman, and Scar Jo at their worst)

(List taken from http://www.boxofficereport.com/ybon/2008gross.shtml, photo is a poster of Disaster Movie)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

NOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Doooooooo Noooooooooooooooot Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant!!!

What is happening?

 

From the BBC News:

Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne has apparently been killed off in the latest issue of the superhero comic.

Scottish writer Grant Morrison revealed earlier this year that Wayne would either retire or be killed in a clash with crime syndicate Black Glove.

The story – Batman RIP – sees Batman shot by villain Simon Hurt, who claims to be Wayne’s father Dr Thomas Wayne.

Morrison told BBC News there would be “a lot more twists and turns to come” before the story was finally resolved.  

Comic Batman reaches end of road

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7753966.stm 

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Funeral Blues -W. H. Auden

 

My devotion to Mad Men can be encapsulated into two words – Jon Hamm.

Hamm..ham..hmmmmmm!!!

So perfectly handsome, so forgivably flawed, so ham-ily delicious…(sorry can’t help it).

In the series, Jon Hamm is Don Draper, boss to naïve and idealistic Peggy Olsen, husband to Stepford-wife-perfect Betty Draper, ad man extraordinaire, and shameless playboy.

Their drama – everything from adultery, to unexpected pregnancies, cutthroat competition, the first vibrator, airplane crashes — is played out during 1960s America, when everybody is pretty and everything is bright and shiny.

I think the whole appeal of the show is best described by Don Draper when he was pitching Kodak’s Carousel

…. Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new.” It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. But he also talked about a deeper bond with a product. Nostalgia. It’s delicate but potent. Switch it on. Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means, ‘the pain from an old wound.’ It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards. And it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called ‘The Wheel.’ It’s called ‘The Carousel.’ It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again. A place where we know we are loved.

Nostalgia…Gorgeous Lead…Mad Men…Enough said.